Different Worlds: United
by shadowninja2000
Summary: When six players with completely different lives enter the virtual reality of Sword Art Online, not one of them expected to get trapped in the game. Each with their own unique sets of problems apart, what will happen when Lori, Amaya, Diesel, German, Kaori, and Seilam team up to defeat the death game? In celebration of Gun Gale Online!
1. Chapter 1: Beta

**Me: AYYYY! Hey guys! OKay, so, if you read the description, you already know what this is about, and that's generally what I note about, which means, congrats, you don't get a long A/N! Go ahead and read!**

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_Chapter One: Beta_

**Kaori's POV**

I ran my fingers through my thick, green hair, a frown twitching at the corners of my mouth. Staring down at the hunk of metal on my bed, I suddenly wasn't so sure that this was a good idea.

I'd seen the game produced. I'd helped with the editing, the options you had to make your avatar, I'd even created an entire level, including little Easter eggs I'd giggled over for days. I knew the experience, knew what was going to happen. It was an interesting concept, certainly, but I was sure some beta would come along and beat it in a year or so. No biggie.

So why was I so _nervous_?

"Kaori! The game goes online in a couple minutes!" My uncle popped his head in my door, giving me a small smile. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, Uncle. I have my avatar ready. I just need to adjust something on the NerveGear and I'll be ready," I assured him. He walked in, bending down to plant a kiss on the top of my head. He crouched down to my level, eyes sparkling.

"This is possibly the greatest thing that's ever happened with technology. We've been blessed to be a part of it, Kaori. Remember, darling, everything that I have, you shall also. Anything you need, anything at all, just think it and the game will provide." he smiled at me, and I smiled back; the gaming fever my uncle had was contagious.

"Remember, we'll meet up in that special cafe I showed you on the first floor?" he said, standing and looking down at me. I nodded.

"Of course, Uncle Kayaba." My uncle clapped his hands together, something eerie glowing in his eyes as he turned and strode out the door. I sighed, biting my lip as I looked back at the NerveGear. Should I go into this world? I already knew everything, and I would have anything I wanted at my disposal. Would that be any fun?

_"This is my greatest masterpiece. Immerse yourself in this world, Kaori! It will amazing, surprising, new. You will not be disappointed."_

I took a step forward, crouching down to look at my NerveGear. It was as shiny as a new penny, a wonderful thing that cued a whole new world of technological advances being made. And my uncle had started it all; everything that resulted of it, good or bad, my uncle would be responsible. I smiled. As Kayaba's niece, I would have privileges in the game that other players could only dream of. Surely, it would be fun. Surely.

I grabbed the headset, laying down on my bed and putting it over my head, powering it up. The game was already set up for me, as the original beta. I had my avatar, who looked as different from myself as I could manage to make her look, already set up and waiting in the world. Of course, I'd used my true name; it would keep me, myself.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, a smile spreading across my face. There was no calming the butterflies in my stomach. They were fluttering around, banging against the walls of my stomach, and I felt nervous.

No.

Not nervous.

Excited.

I opened my eyes again, the clock in the corner of my headset showing 12:59. I bit my lip, my eyes widening as the numbers blinked continuously.

Soon.

Very soon.

13:00 flashed in the corner of my headset. I closed my eyes.

"Link Start!" I called out. A few seconds of tunneling later, the pregame sequence was initiated.

Touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste, all fine with myself and my system. Anxious now, I selected Japanese as the language, then inputted my oh-so-complex login data. The character registration popped up, asking me if I wanted to use my previous save data. Of course, I did. I selected my username: Kaori. I clicked the blue button.

Within seconds…

_Welcome to Sword Art Online!_

I smiled as the blue tunneling sequence took place, transporting me into the game.

This was going to be fantastic.

0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

**Amaya's POV**

The shaking wasn't gentle, but not harsh, either. I groaned, batting the hand away and rolling over.

"No-oo, I'm tired." My mouth formed the words, my throat vibrating to indicate I'd voiced them. The shaking paused, then intensified. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. If I couldn't see her, she couldn't do anything about it.

It felt like I was in the middle of an earthquake then, both of my older sister's hands on my arm as she shook me forcibly. I opened my eyes in shock, flying up and getting tangled in my blankets. My head whipped to the side, where my older sister was standing, hand on hip. Her lips were moving, but she'd started too early, I hadn't gotten all of it. I shook my head.

_Start over_, I signed. She smiled faintly, her eyes softening as she looked down at me. I yawned, my jaw going wider than I thought it could. Lori waved a hand at me and I nodded, watching her hands.

_I just got here and you were asleep. It is close to one. Were we going to log onto that game you beta'd?_ Lori signed, pausing every few seconds to make a face as she fingerspelled something out. She held up a case depicting two swords crossed and buried in the ground, with the title Sword Art Online in red at the top.

"You remembered," I said, smiling. Lori frowned a little, touching her throat and running her finger down it, her mouth moving to form the words "Quiet down."

"Sorry." I tried to be quiet, but I couldn't really tell. Being deaf had its issues. A smile broke out on my face; that wouldn't be a problem in Sword Art Online! From my beta testing, I knew my hearing worked perfectly in the game, which was amazing. That was the reason I'd wanted Lori to join me in the game; I could hear her voice there.

I was one of the younger betas, at fifteen. A mere two days before Sword Art Online was officially released, I turned sixteen, and I was more pumped than ever by all I was reading about the game's database. Akihiko-san had released that there would be a twist to the game and that the betas might not recognize this new world they had to beat. That had excited me all the more for the release of the game, and, since I had preordered it, it got to me a couple hours before the game went online for all players. I'd convinced Lori to play with me after telling her a couple stories of one of my beta friends, a boy named Diesel. My older sister took the game as an opportunity to escape from reality, breaking down and buying it.

As much as I wanted my sister to join so she could have fun, it was also in part about me. Being deaf from birth, I'd never once heard my sister's voice, despite the fact that she'd been my primary caretaker for all sixteen years I'd been alive, my mother having died a year or so after giving birth to me and our father being shot after a committing the serious criminal offense of sexual abuse, and against his eldest daughter, no less.

When I'd beta'd Sword Art Online, I could hear. My hearing worked exceptionally, and it opened up an entirely new world for me. No longer was I restricted to reading lips and hands, if the person happened to know sign language. I could hear _anything_, and it was exciting. I'd convinced Lori to play Sword Art Online with me because of that. I was sure that, if my hearing worked in the beta, it would also in the real game. If that was true, I would finally be able to hear my older sister's voice. The thought made me giddy.

I stopped at the door atop the steps, whirling around to look down at Lori expectantly. I frowned; she was on the phone and, based on the look she was giving the glowing device in her palm, she wasn't liking how the conversation was going. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me, moving the phone so her shoulder was tilted and holding it to her ear.

_One second. This is important. Go ahead and start it up._ I nodded, turning around and opening the door to the bedroom, where two NerveGears lay on the bed and some sort of futon, respectively. A grin split my face as I skipped over to the futon, running my fingers fondly across the shiny blue surface of my NerveGear. It was a wonderful piece of equipment, powerful enough to stop all brain waves and translate them into a virtual database where you could move without the assistance of a joystick or anything so primitive as that. I crouched down to examine it, my excited face reflected in the face shield. I stuck my tongue out at myself, giggling.

_Amaya? You ready?_ Lori's face appeared behind mine in the face shield, her lips moving slowly as I read them. I nodded, turning to face her. She pointed across at her NerveGear, her eyebrows pinching together. I picked up my NerveGear, placing it on my head and pointing at it. Lori walked over to the bed, sitting down on it and placing the thing on her head as well. I nodded.

"When you want to activate it, you just say 'Link Start' and it'll channel you into the game! You'll wanna activate it soon because you need to create your character. Make sure you name her 'Lori' or something like that so I can recognize you. You can look like anyone in the game, remember!" I cheered, pumping a fist in the air. Lori smiled, nodding. "We'll meet up in the center square. Don't worry about finding me, I'll just come to you. I'm pretty sure you'll stick out, being a newbie and all." Lori gave me an unamused look and I stuck my tongue out at her, giggling.

_How droll. So, basically, just keep my real name and stay put?_ Lori asked, tilting her head to the left, her blonde hair swishing to the side and some strands falling over her shoulder. I nodded.

"Yep!" Lori grinned, her shoulders moving with what I assumed was laughter by the look on her face. "Oh, and it helps if you lay down, by the way." Lori nodded again, adjusting her position so she was laying down. She signed something I sloppily made out as a request to feed the dogs, my suspicions unconfirmed due to the NerveGear's face shield's shine, blocking Lori's lips from my view. I looked at the clock in the corner of my NerveGear.

12:55. I had time. I pulled the helmet off my head, jogging downstairs. I put my thumb and forefinger in my mouth, blowing hard and shifting my tongue around until I saw two dogs come bounding around the corner. I smiled, hopping the last three stairs and landing on the ground just in time to be tackled by a tiny Alaskan Malamute. The puppy's mouth opened and closed rapidly, his tongue slurping all over my face. I pushed him off gently, smiling, before getting to my feet.

I slapped my leg, a huge German Shepherd trotting out and picking the little Malamute up by the scruff of his neck. He trotted to my side, whacking my legs with his tail and smiling a doggy smile up at me.

I skipped into the kitchen, grabbing the bag of dog food Lori's new boy had gotten and dumping some food into a big bowl for Myrrh and a smaller bowl for Rosco. Myrrh dropped Rosco, padding to his food bowl arthritically and eating out of it carefully; Rosco, on the other hand, galloped clumsily over to his bowl, shoving his face into it and nearly inhaling the entire bowl. I chuckled, going over and rubbing both doggies' heads.

Rosco jumped up into my arms, his pink tongue slurping my face and his fuzzy cheek nuzzling against mine. I kissed the top of his head and set him down, kneeling down to rub behind Myrrh's ears. He rumbled at me, even the back of his neck vibrating to show his affection. I hugged him around the neck, kissing the side of his soft, furry face.

"I love you two so much. You're the best friends a girl could ever have," I hummed, looking at my two hearing dogs with a smile. Myrrh shoved his head into my stomach, rubbing it back and forth as Rosco chomped onto my knee lightly. I smiled.

"I have to go log on now, okay boys? I'll be back to feed you in a couple hours. Wait for me, don't go anywhere," I chuckled, giving both of them a bout of final scratching before heading back upstairs.

The door creaked open and I slipped into the room, trotting over to the futon-like thing and shoving the NerveGear onto my head. I looked at the clock in the corner of the device.

12:59. So close.

_So close._

13:00.

"Link Start!" I squealed, closing my eyes. Everything was a blur as the NerveGear went through the preliminary status checks. Touch and sight turned green, clicking off to the side. The hearing option popped against my screen, and everything seemed to freeze for a second.

My NerveGear was stuck. The 'hearing' selection was frozen, not turning green like two others already had. It was just sitting there. It wasn't turning any different color, wasn't blinking off to the side like the other two had.

Finally, it turned red, everything bursting back into motion. I frowned. What did that mean? The hearing selection had turned red while the rest had turned green just fine, no complications, please and thank you.

I didn't have much time to think about it. That screen cleared, switching to the language selection screen. I selected Japanese quickly, and the screen went to my login screen. I entered my user and password eagerly; if I still had control over my body, I would be twitching and squirming nonstop. The character registration popped up, stating that I had saved data still. I selected it and pressed the blue button, officially entering myself in the game.

_Welcome to Sword Art Online!_

I swallowed thickly as the flashing blue lights transported me into the world I'd come to know and love over the last month. If this experience was anything like the beta test, with the steel castle and lovely players I knew so well, it would be money well spent.

My vision went black for a moment, then slowly, slowly, the black faded away, being replaced by brown squares and tiles. A smile stretched at my mouth as I brought my hands up to my face, stretching and flexing them. My old, black gloves were still on my hands and my smile stretched wider. They didn't look any worse than the day I'd first bought them in my beta test. I clenched my hand into a fist.

I was finally back. Back in Sword Art Online.

My head snapped up and I scanned the crowd for the distinctive red-tipped blonde hair of my sister that I was sure she would've kept. Instead, I first noticed a player standing the middle of the square, her dark blue eyes flicking all around. I pulled up my menu, biting my lip as I scrolled down the options bar. I came to what I'd been looking for, something Diesel and I both had installed after hacking endlessly at our games. Data.

Data was the most valuable thing in an online world. It was manipulatable and could be changed, deleted, restored, switched, or really anything to get you what you desired. Once you could access the data records, you knew what happened and when, and you knew much, much more than any other players could. I grinned as I pulled it up, scanning upwards of two hundred entry names before hitting upon people that had logged on minutes ago.

The username **Lori** struck my eyes and I tapped the name twice, waiting while the game pulled up the avatar. The woman was almost an exact replica of my sister, from the mischievous way of holding herself to her curvy body to the long, red-tipped blonde hair. There were few differences; her eyes were a deep blue instead of rich gold, her arms a bit more muscled, her face a bit rounder than in real life. But, overall, Lori had chosen to remain practically the exact same. I chuckled. I hadn't known she'd wanted blue eyes. How interesting.

My eyes trailed from the data to the woman in the center of the square, fidgeting nervously as she looked around. That was Lori, alright. No other player would look so uncomfortable. I swiped my data fields away, skipping up to the woman and tapping her on the shoulder. She whirled around, her hair a blur as it whisked over her shoulder in protest of the sudden movement. I smiled.

"Lori?" I froze. "Lo-ri. Loar-ee. Lori Lori Lori Lori?" My field of vision expanded as my smile transformed into a perfect 'O' shape. I could feel my mouth forming the words, could even feel my voice box vibrating...but...nothing. I heard…_nothing_. Lori looked down at me, her eyebrows pinching together.

_Amaya? Huh, I did not think you would keep your real name. Good for you, little sis._ Lori smiled, then paused and frowned. Her features blurred, and I lifted a hand up to my cheek, feeling something not quite definable I knew was water from past experience in the game. I blinked several times, shaking my head. The blurring cleared, as well as more water spilling onto my cheeks. I wiped the water away. So that's what tears felt like in Sword Art Online.

_What is wrong?_ Lori asked, tilting her head. I shook my head, putting a smile back on my face and shrugging.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. C'mon, let's go find my friend. His name is Diesel. See if you can help me find him! He said he'll be out hunting in the southernmost field to gain some early EXP," I said. I had said it, I knew that much. My throat had moved in a way that only talking felt like. It wasn't quite realistic, but Akihiko-san probably didn't spend much time on feelings of throat movement.

Not many people were going to be playing deaf.

I felt Lori take my hand and looked up at her. She smiled down at me, her now-blue eyes sparkling in a way similar to in real life. _Alright, little sis. Lead the way!_

I guided Lori quickly and easily to the field Diesel said he'd meet us in. I stopped shortly after entering the field, my eyes sweeping the area for the distinctive long, purple hair of my gaming buddy. It went everywhere when he fought unless he had it carefully tied back, which, as it was the beginning of the game, I doubted he would have it tied up and back. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I looked back to see Lori pointing further out into the field, squinting.

_Does that look like him?_ I smirked, shaking my head as a redhead dashed by, silver dagger glinting in the artificial sunlight.

"Diesel's character looks more like a girl. He has long, purple hair and orange eyes, if he hasn't changed from his beta avatar," I explained, running my fingers through my long, white-blonde hair and grinning. Lori made a face, rolling her eyes.

_You are friends with a guy who looks like a girl. That is not a good sign, little sis._ Lori signed, looking down at me, her lips twisting in a frown. I grinned, shaking my head.

"He's a good guy, really. He's just a little...odd," I said carefully. A flash of purple caught my eye and my head snapped to look at where it was. Out of the tall grass, a purple-haired person leaped up, his sword held loosely at his side and flashing forward in a shining display as he slashed it forward, a red, digital mark appearing quickly on a beast's chest, the beast disintegrating. I smiled. That was Diesel, no doubt about it.

"Diesel! Diesel!" I tugged on Lori's sleeve, pointing. "That's him." Lori nodded, cupping her hands over her mouth. I assumed she'd shouted out for Diesel, because the instant he landed back on the ground, he turned to face us, lifting a hand up to his face and squinting in our direction. I waved animatedly and his face lit up with a smile. He took off at dashing pace towards us, a record amount of dust kicking up behind him as he nearly tackled me in a hug, picking me up off the ground and swinging me around.

He set me down and the world was still spinning. His lips were moving so fast they were blurring and I couldn't read them, try as I ight. I frowned, waving my hand in his face. He focused in on me, his orange eyes dancing happily as he wiggled around.

"Can you slow down? I can't read your lips when you're talking so fast," I said, giving him an apologetic smile. Diesel's eyebrows shot up near to his hairline as he tilted his head to the side.

_You can't read my lips? Why can't you just listen?_ He looked confused. I smiled sheepishly; I'd neglected to tell Diesel that I was deaf in real life, mostly because I hadn't assumed it would matter. I tapped my pointer fingers together innocently as I looked at the ground.

"Well, see, in the real world, that is, in real life, um..." I trailed off, looking up a Lori. One of her eyebrows was arched as she looked down at me, her arms crossed.

_You didn't tell._

"Well, no, didn't think it would matter! I could hear in the beta test!" I argued. I looked back at Desel, who looked more confused than before.

_You could hear in the beta?_ he asked.

"In the real world, I'm actually deaf," I said carefully, offering him a small smile.

His jaw dropped to the floor.

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**Me: LOL. Aiight Foxtail, your turn! Have fun from there! *snickers* For you readers, I love each and every one of you, and I especially love on the ones that review because that way we can strike up a conversation and I don't have to track you down to thank you for favoriting or following or reviewing! Thanks fr reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Bye~**


	2. Chapter 2: Gamers

**Me: I'm so excited for this collab! It's gonna be a really long time before we're done and stuff but omigosh like I can hardly contin myself I'm so excited *squeals and then flails***

**Lori: While she's occupied, have a good time reading-**

**Amaya: Review!**

**Kaori: *giggles***

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**German's POV**

"What's that smell?" I was bombarded with a multitude of answers, ranging anywhere from _"I don't know"_ to _"your face" _which was then followed by a few fits of laughter from two of the younger children.

It was loud. If there was one thing that people said after visiting our household, was that it was loud. Although honestly with this many children, it was quite possibly impossible for it not to be. Somehow, I had acquired fourteen younger siblings. Well, not just _somehow; _that makes it sound like I don't know. I do. My parents had them all of course, and somehow I'd come out as the oldest.

And being the oldest had some responsibilities that came with it.

I heaved past the small herd of children which had surrounded me due to the fact that I was stirring what would soon be cookie dough, hearing tiny feet stampeding after me as I followed my nose toward the incredibly odd smell.

Odd smells in a household full of children weren't rare, although they were still unnerving.

"Guys, seriously what's that smell?" I asked, poking my head into the living room and sniffing. Nope, it wasn't as strong in there. I could hardly hear my own thoughts over the chatter and yellings of high-pitched voices as I turned back to the kitchen, two kids latching onto my legs, chanting for me to give them a taste.

It was times like these when I wished our parents were actually around to give me a hand. I sighed, scanning the crowd. "Spain? Mind giving me some help here, buddy?" I asked, spotting the second eldest.

He smirked up at me amusedly, apparently enjoying the sight of my troubles before nodding. With a few heaves he managed to pry the toddlers from my legs and I went in search of the smell again.

I yanked open the microwave. Nothing wrong in there. I sniffed, feeling suspiciously like a tracking dog as I shuffled around the kitchen, my posse of children hoarding after me like I was an ice cream truck. Counting heads I couldn't find one missing, although I did see a teary face.

Tears weren't exactly an uncommon sight either. It seemed at least one of them was crying over something at all times. I loved them to death and seeing them sad was horrible, but good lord what was that smell?

I set the bowl of batter on the counter and reached down with one arm to heave up the little crying girl. She wailed, throwing both arms around my neck as I continued to scan the room for the smell.

"What's wrong?" Rainy, the youngest sniffled pitifully next to me, letting out a string of words so slurred by her crying that I wondered for a second if she'd just spouted out an alien language. "Sweetie calm down, your big brother can't understand a word you're saying."

I leaned down, peering in each of the cabinets for an abnormality.

She swallowed, gasping for air. "I-I-My-Our-Cat! Gibble tuck!"

What the hell? What was a gibble tuck? However I had picked out one actual word. "Cat? The cat? Are you talking about Kibble?"

She nodded rapidly, her tiny brown ponytail bouncing as she did so. She struggled for a moment with some more explanation before apparently giving up, instead slapping one tiny hand on either side of my face and forcing me to look at her. Her blue eyes were wet and wide as she then sloppily pointed over towards the stove. "Gibble stuck!"

Oh… oh crap. As a fluent speaker of baby talk I understood what she meant, promptly setting her back down on the floor and rushing over to the stove, my journey still rather delayed due to the amount of tiny humans in front of me, although most of them had abandoned their clawing at my pants and were instead slapping at the cabinets below where I'd placed the bowl of dough.

We had a cat. He was brown and dull and sometimes could be mistaken for a rat he was so small, but he was a cat nonetheless. We'd found him, or more like he'd found us, showing up on our front doorstep one day and refusing to leave. As if fourteen children weren't enough to take care of, we'd adopted a cat.

Half of my brood wanted to name him Mr. Fluffy, and the other half simply wanted to name him Cat. They'd argued for hours but eventually settled on what the older ones called "middle ground" and named him Kibble. How on earth Kibble was middle ground between Cat and Mr. Fluffy I didn't know, but honestly, I didn't care.

I looked behind the pre-heated stove and sure enough, just as Rainy had said, Kibble was stuck. He was perched, tangled up in cords from various appliances and squished in the only four or five inch space between the stove and the wall, his green eyes glowing in fear as he looked to me like I was the light at the end of the tunnel.

I wasn't entirely sure what the smell was, but as I reached behind to pull him out, I assumed it was the smell of burning fur. Our stove was definitely not the most high-tech or the safest piece of technology, and it turned out the back got incredibly hot. Thank goodness I'd only begun pre-heating it a little bit ago or we would've had a half-fried cat stuck in our house.

Gross.

Rainy cheered behind me, taking Kibble from my arms and twirling the stunned cat around in circles. "Thank you! Thank you German!" she managed to say, her words now much more understandable without the distress.

I nodded, mentally telling the cat he better remember that I saved him and not hack up in my slippers again. Man… I really sounded like a grandpa sometimes. I needed a break.

Although, that break was within reach. As today was the day the game I'd been waiting for for what felt like forever was coming out. Well, it'd actually gone online almost five hours ago, but still, once I forced these little ones into bed, I could have the much-needed break I deserved.

I couldn't remember a time when I'd actually played a game that I wanted to play. My days were full of tag and Candyland. Not to mention the last time I remembered taking a **somnolence**.

My friends had raved about this game for months now it seemed. They'd all gone and bought it the instant it came out, and with a little help from them, they'd thrown together some of their extra savings to help me buy a copy of my own. They'd said they didn't mind pitching in, as they couldn't imagine it without me, but I still felt a little guilty… although mostly grateful.

We'd all scheduled to meet up at 20:00, although I figured since I'd never played a video game before, let alone anything close to virtual reality, I could use all the help I could get and planned to log in earlier. Sure, no one else but the beta testers knew what true virtual reality was like, but at least my friends had _some _experience with video games.

Even the thought of being able to be completely immersed in another world seemed like complete hooey to me.

And so I was making my siblings cookies in exchange for them going to bed early. I figured if I had them all asleep, I'd have until the morning to play. We'd all probably play all night, so I wouldn't be the only one sleeping through class the next day. I smiled at the thought.

"Alright, they're going in. I repeat, they're going in," I said, scooping the last mound of dough onto the baking sheet, somehow weaving through all the children, and shoving it into the oven.

It was like they had all been hypnotized. They sat in front of the oven, staring through the little glass door, pushing and shoving one another in complete silence to get a better look.

I heard a 'hmph' from beside me and looked down to see Spain with his arms crossed at my side. He looked indifferent. "Getting so worked up over cookies. I'm so over that," he said.

I couldn't help but chuckle, reaching down and ruffling his hair as he desperately tried to slap my hands away. "Oh c'mon, you know you want to go watch. You're not too old."

"I'm almost a decade!" he protested.

I nodded. "Eh, yeah old man I guess you're right. That big one-zero is right around the corner for ya, isn't it?"

He nodded, puffing out his chest in pride. He'd been looking forward to his tenth birthday since he'd turned nine. He was the second oldest, although just barely. He had a few others nipping at his heels in the family. Heck, Cyrus and Monica were only nine months behind. Man, time flew.

"So a big manly man like yourself can help me get them into bed in a record amount of time, can't you?" I'd said it like a challenge, and if I knew anything, Spain loved challenges. Joke was on him, he was really just helping me out.

His hands clenched into fists. "You bet! I'll get them in bed in _half _the time you usually do!"

"Ooh, big talk from such a little guy," I mocked.

"I will! You just watch!" he yelled.

I could've sworn Spain was a blur once the cookies were out. I was just about to set up plates around the table when he stopped me, holding up a smug hand and telling me he could handle it. Instead he disregarded plates in general, taking the cookies off the tray, still burning hot, and wrapping each one in a napkin before giving them to the other siblings. Once cookies were in-hand, or rather in-mouth for some, he promptly carted them to their bedroom, spouting nonsense about a monster eating all their cookies in the future if they didn't go to sleep right then.

Although I wasn't entirely sure if sending children to bed with chocolate still on their faces and promises of cookie-stealing boogie men was a good idea, I couldn't deny his method had been speedy. Much faster than I had ever achieved… although they had had clean faces and weren't staring in horror at the ceiling, hoping a monster wouldn't come and get their baked treats.

It was just for one night though. I could console them tomorrow and clean them up. And of course I'd probably put them to bed in the future as well… mainly because Spain was a tad scary when he wanted things done… the descriptions of the cookie-eating monster had been oddly vivid. Although it was still pretty light outside so I hoped that that would at least help set their minds at ease.

He strutted back into the kitchen after the last child had been put to sleep. "See? Told ya. New record," he boasted.

I rolled my eyes lightly, a smile still playing on my face. "Yeah, yeah, you're the best. You wanna take over my duties from now on?"

His eyes bugged and he rapidly shook his head. "No thanks."

I chuckled, handing him the last cookie on the tray. "Didn't think so. Now you go to bed too. Remember if you don't you'll get all future sweets stolen right from your cold clammy dead hands," I said, letting out a ghostly 'oooo' afterwards which made him sigh in annoyance before trotting down to his room, munching on his cookie on the way.

There. All done. Not too bad it was… 18:00. I still had plenty of time before everyone else logged in.

I shoved the cookie sheet back into the cabinet, wiping my hands on a paper towel before nearly jogging down the hallway to my room in anticipation. I'd already unboxed it, too eager to wait. It looked pretty much just like a helmet. Sleek, black plastic made it look a little nicer though. And then it had a cord, which was a dead giveaway.

I closed my door with a click, locking it tight in hopes I wouldn't be interrupted, and hopping onto my bed without a second thought. I leaned over, plugging it in and firmly placing it over my head. A giddy smile stretched across my face.

Here it was: some down time for German. It would be so nice to spend some quality time with friends. Not only that but doing it while playing a game? This would be perfect.

I still had long lists of all I needed to do running through my head. Rylie had soccer practice tomorrow. Cyrus needed a poster board for a project he was working on. I'd left my keys on the coffee table instead of putting them in my book bag, and Spain's bicycle tire needed airing or he wouldn't be able to go over to the sleepover he had with a friend the next day. It seemed like a never-ending slew of thoughts but I figured the game would take over soon enough and I would be pulled away from the craziness of it all.

I adjusted my position on the covers, lying my hands down by my sides before calling out the two words that the instruction manual had told me would take me to that magical world.

"Link Start!"

* * *

**Diesel's POV**

I bit my nails, wiggling happily in my seat as I watched the clock tick ever-closer to the time I'd been waiting for for over a month now.

Beta testing the game had been one thing, but playing with _that _many people? That many civilians? That many people who could possibly give me a challenge was just irresistible.

I'd been sold on the Nerve Gear from the very first instant I'd logged into SAO. Looking down at my hands to feel them clench when I clenched them, to sniff and smell real air, even to pinch myself and feel the pinch, was invigorating. Living life was nice, but living life in a place like that? It was something I could get used to very quickly.

I'd been sitting at the chair to my desk, staring at the oversized digital clock on my desktop monitor for over an hour now. I had a few pages open, watching news of the new Sword Art Online game appear. People were frantically buying it; it was flying off shelves faster than a new harem dating game did in a crowd full of girlfriend-less losers. Although, I was one of those losers… but still. It didn't matter.

I scrolled down the slow and steady feed of news I had. I had alerts for nearly anything game, manga, or anime-related. It was nice to know when the new things came out, that way I could easily stay caught up.

I also had a small chat box constantly scrolling on the side. I'd made countless acquaintances during my beta test and had kept in contact with nearly all of them. They tended to avoid me sometimes… which I didn't know why, but as the real release date of the actual game inched closer and closer they began contacting me again.

_'HogKnockers225: Yo Dies! You ready to kick the game's ass?' _A beep signaled the message directed towards me.

_'DieselForTheLadies: You betcha!' _I typed back.

_'Slythender: Two minutes 2 go guys. Get ur gaming pants on. This'll be epic!1111!'_

Bet your life it was going to be epic. I wracked my brain to remember who was who of the two people who'd sent me messages. Oh yeah, both guys I'd met in the first floor dungeon. Eh, moderately skilled players although they were too engrossed in the scenery to really be of any help.

I liked them. They were nice, but they weren't what I was interested in.

Unfortunately I hadn't run into too many girls during my time beta testing. Of course, that was understandable, not many girls would go far enough to be chosen for that. I had a much better chance of meeting ladies during the real game. Hopefully helpless ones that needed a very skilled master like myself for some help and advice.

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing in excitement. Yes, this was going to be the best game ever.

However I guessed I _had _met a few of the wonderful things they called females during my beta testing times. They were just as fantastic as any in the real world.

Giselle, Haruka, Lacy, Amaya, I could've gone on to name them all but the sad fact was that they were some of the few. Although none except Amaya had I really adventured with. And even then I'd only met her a little while before the beta was shut down, so we hadn't gotten too much time to play together.

But that would change today. We'd already made plans to meet up the instant the game had gone online. It was so exciting. I'd asked the other ladies and some of my gentleman friends I'd had during the beta testing if they wanted to meet up too but they all said they were busy somewhere else in the game… which was odd because the game hadn't even started yet… but it didn't matter. I'd have lots of time to make other friends and hopefully find a girlfriend in the process.

All the time in the world in fact.

The clock ticked down another minute and my heart raced faster, accompanied by another small notificational beep. I peered down at my screen to see new news had come out regarding one of my favorite games-turned-shows.

I clicked on the article and the wonderful words of spectacular beauty stunned my very heart. They had done it. Asuki, Asuki my darling, my waifu, and my one true love when it came to animated girls was getting made as a figure. Not only that, but they were releasing a small portion of them to Japan before the actual release for "super fans". Well, I think calling myself a super fan would be an understatement.

I'd never clicked on a "buy now" button faster in my life. Asuki was my darling. She was so sweet, so caring, so gentle and kind, not to mention quite literally the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on. She'd fallen in love with me so easily in that game, we'd skipped down the road to happiness and not anything could ruin it.

My heart nearly stopped.

Nothing could ruin it… but something apparently _had_ ruined my quick buy of this incredibly enticing figurine. She was even wearing the outfit I'd liked best in the game. The white one that if you went wild enough sort of looked like a wedding dress. The dress she'd wear on the day we'd get married… if she were real.

"OUT OF STOCK?!" I gasped, looking at the red letters that told me I was too late to get the figure's pre-release. I slapped both hands to cover my eyes. No, this was not happening. This was a nightmare. She'd been right there, right within reach and yet she'd been stolen away by another man, _other men_. What would they do to her? My precious Asuki would be defiled for sure! "No, nonononono," I moaned, clicking the back button and quickly re-reading the rest of the article.

It said there would be a few distributed to local manga shops… there was still hope.

But wait… what about the SAO release? It was probably only a minute away… I couldn't miss that by running down the street to see if they had my figure…

But I couldn't leave poor Asuki alone and cold and homeless in a little plastic box, men ogling her from a distance with greedy eyes.

But games like SAO sometimes had special campaigns. With my knowledge I wouldn't be surprised if Akihiko himself decided to give out a powerful sword to the first one hundred who logged in or something of the sort.

But my wife, my one true love who had cared about me until the end was finally within sight and I couldn't leave her alone.

I toyed back and forth, leaning one way in my seat and then the other, grumbling and grunting and arguing with myself. Who would it be? Asuki, or other girls in this new virtual reality?

"GAH!" I yelled, quickly clicking around until I found the pre-order form for the figure for when it actually went on sale to the public. "I'm so sorry Asuki! Forgive me!" I wailed, typing in my address and payment method. I'd have to wait… I'd have to wait two horrible bone-crushing weeks for her to go on sale and arrive at my door. I was a horrible boyfriend.

However, maybe in this new game I'd find something more akin to a real relationship… something a little healthier. Not that what I had with Asuki wasn't healthy! But it really wasn't…

I slammed down the enter key, dashing over to my bed and throwing on the Nerve Gear before I had a chance to change my mind. With angst of the love I'd have to wait ten to fifteen business days for, I called out the two words to take me into the world that would be full of actual women.

The screen went white, the familiar colorful blocks once again engulfing me. I calibrated it, followed by putting in my password. It popped up with the avatar I'd used during the beta and I sighed in relief, clicking accept and waiting for the drop off. It'd taken me seemingly forever to customize my avatar. Mainly because I couldn't decide on what looked cooler, purple hair or white, or maybe gold… or blue… There were an endless amount of choices when it came to hair, eyes, and clothing, and in the end I'd ended up with something just about as far from my real body as possible.

I was much taller, much more muscular, had purple hair down to my waist instead of the shorter forest green hair I'd been blessed or maybe cursed with upon birth, and orange eyes, so stark compared to my normally blue irises, but hey, orange was incredibly badass-looking if I did say so myself.

I materialized easily into the world. I looked around myself, watching as others fizzled into existence mere feet from me, spawning faster than bunnies reproduced. You could tell the betas from the newer players. The beta testers stretched, looking upon the world fondly while new players' eyes were wide, scanning their surroundings and gaping at the clarity of it all.

I swiped for my menu, quickly scanning through everything. I still surprisingly had most, if not all of my items. While I had collected a good share of things during the month of betaing, I still looked forward to acquiring new objects and weapons now. I didn't know for sure, but surely there would be new extras that hadn't been there during the beta. Plus, I hadn't gotten the chance to get very far in the game, so hopefully soon I'd be reaching higher floors on the tower and also acquiring better rewards.

My friends list was also intact. I'd added quite a few and in scrolling I saw that around half of them had logged in already, even though it was still probably within the first minute of release. Although, there was only one username I was looking for.

Amaya… yup, she was on. Now I just needed to head to the field we said we'd meet in.

I shot off in a sprint, dodging gamers and flying out of the main city and into the surrounding fields. I'd told her I'd be in the southernmost one… and in taking a glance at my compass in the corner of my screen –or I guess I should call it vision- I headed to my right, jogging all the way down to nearly the bottom of my map.

I looked around, searching for any sign of her but came up empty. Maybe it was because it was early in the game but no one had made it to the field yet. Which would make it easier to find Amaya of course, and also easier to kill the beasts since no one else was here to steal my prey.

As if on cue I spotted one a few yards away. A boar, same as in the beta. "Alright," I sighed to myself, scrolling through my items and picking a common sword I'd found. "Time to have some fun."

With a fluid shove off the ground I was off, slicing through the boar in one fell swoop. It made a grunting noise before bursting into pixilated squares and into the abyss. A tiny window popped up congratulating me, letting me know I'd earned a small amount of HP and gold. I swiped to close it.

I'd always found games to be intriguing. Ever since I was small it was hard to find time to talk to me that I didn't have some sort of handheld device in my grasp. Rather than intriguing, they were easily beaten. Maybe it was because I had indeed played video games since I was a tot, or maybe it was because I threw myself wholeheartedly into it until it was beaten, but I found it rather easy to beat games.

And while in one small respect that was frustrating, I didn't really care. Even if I'd beaten a game a hundred times I still found some sort of enjoyment in it. Even more so in this virual reality. I hadn't ever exactly been very good at the game of "life" as they called it. Reality wasn't my thing, and I didn't know how to beat it or how to push its buttons, so I liked actual games more. I could control them, I could dominate them, I could conquer and be the best at them. When it came to my prowess regarding them, people oo'd and awe'd. No one oo'd and awe'd at me in real life.

"Diesel!" A shout took me out of my thoughts.

It wasn't a voice I recognized and as I turned to it, I had to hold a hand up to shelter my eyes from the sun. Who was that? There were two girls, one of which –the one that'd yelled- looked unfamiliar, while the smaller figure, jumping up and down and waving struck my memory like a truck.

Amaya!

I set off in a sprint, abandoning my sword in the grass and not caring who found it or what happened to it. My little gaming partner had returned and she looked as gorgeous as ever! Not to mention she'd brought an equally gorgeous friend who was… very well-endowed if I did say so myself.

I didn't slow down at all, instead tackling Amaya in a hug and hoisting up to spin her around in glee. "Amaya-chan~! I missed you so much! What've you been up to! I haven't talked to you in forever! How's it been~? Still single? Still as powerful as ever? Glad to be back?" My questions spewed out at a million miles a minute. I was so happy to see her again.

I set her down a moment later when she began to look a little dizzy. She was smiling, although her eyes were spinning like crazy. "Can you slow down? I can't read your lips when you're talking so fast."

Say what now? My eyebrows pinched but I smiled. Silly girl. "You can't read my lips? Why can't you just listen?" Maybe she hadn't adjusted her volume settings yet. Although mine had been right where I'd left them the time I'd logged out from the beta.

She looked down toward the ground, her usual bouncy persona dialing down into what I swore was a sheepish smile. She brought her hands up, quietly tapping her fingers together as she searched for words. "Well, see, in the real world, that is, in real life, um…," she trailed off.

A look was exchanged between the two girls which gave me a bit of time to do a look-over of the girl Amaya had brought. Gorgeous was an understatement. Maybe it was just her avatar but this girl looked like she belonged in a movie. I'd definitely have to introduce myself properly in a moment after Amaya got whatever it was she wanted to say out. Although I doubted at the moment I could form a logical sentence as this woman's beauty had me swept away.

Ooh, maybe she was the girl I was fated to meet in this game! I would definitely _not _be opposed to that.

"You didn't tell," the girl said to Amaya, half sounding as if she were questioning and half as a statement.

Amaya sunk further. "Well, no, I didn't think it would matter! I could hear in the beta test!" Eh? What were these two talking about?

"You could hear in the beta?" I asked. Of course she could hear in the beta, everyone could or it would've been reported as a bug. But why was she talking like it was something so new? Like it was an extraordinary fact that she could hear in the beta?

Amaya leaned to the side, still looking square at the ground as she said slowly, "In the real world, I'm actually deaf." She gave me a slight smile.

To say I was surprised was an understatement. My mouth dropped agape and I stared at her as if she were from another planet. She had to be kidding. "Are you serious?"

She gave me a simple nod, searching my features for some sort of answer.

"B-But… but," I stumbled clumsily. She'd been fine in the beta. Perfectly fine. She'd heard me and I'd heard her. She hadn't acted any different, she hadn't seemed amazed by the sounds she was apparently hearing then, but not now… It was hard to believe. "Why didn't you say anything?"

She offered me a light shrug. "I didn't think it mattered… since I could hear."

Of course it mattered! That was the problem with gaming: even if you made friends online, there was still so much about their real life that you didn't know. And Amaya thought something as "trivial" as being deaf in real life didn't matter since in the game she wasn't. Which was sad. Yes, I hadn't known her for that long and yes, I was probably just some creepy guy she met on the game but still… I wanted to know things like that about her and about any other friend I made online.

I couldn't imagine not being able to hear. It was so beyond me that I couldn't even begin to fathom it, and my heart ached slightly for the wonderful and sweet girl in front of me. I sighed, straightening and swiping up my menu. I clicked on Amaya's name as she and the girl that was accompanying her gave me questioning looks.

I pulled up the chat function and with a slight smile typed. _'Of course it matters. I want to know all about you Amaya-chan~! You could've definitely shared that with me. ;P'_

She jumped as the message popped up on her screen and a sweet smile stretched across her face as she read, her friend looking incredibly confused, only the owner of the menu could see it after all.

I swiped away my screen. "I'm not sure what to say, Amaya," I admitted.

The atmosphere had turned a little downtrodden, if not a tad awkward.

Amaya shook her head, waving her hand to dismiss it all. "Don't worry about it. We really don't have to talk about that right now… we can later. Because I have to introduce you to someone, Diesel!"

I figured she was right, and we would talk about it later. Even if she somehow forgot about it I'd be sure to remind her. It would be nice to have a little chat with her about it, and about other things in the real world as well for that matter. I sensed she was hesitant to talk about it, but also wanted me to know at the same time. She was sweet; definitely one person I wanted to get to know better.

I turned to the girl next to her, offering a hand for a handshake. "I'm assuming that someone is this beautiful lady?" I asked.

The girl gave me an uncomfortable look, hesitantly reaching out to take my hand. "This is Lori! My big sister," Amaya said. I couldn't tell if she'd read my lips or not, but I was too intrigued by the lovely woman beside her to really question it.

Although, I had to admit I was surprised. Aside from the blonde hair I really had to squint to see they were related. But then again these were avatars so goodness only knew how similar they looked in real life.

I shook Lori's hand before deftly bringing it up to my mouth, giving it a quick peck of a kiss before letting it go. "It is a real treat getting to meet my darling Amaya's beautiful big sister!" Somehow I'd managed to throw in a compliment to both women… and flirt with both. Hell yeah, Diesel! My game was definitely stepping up.

Lori stepped backward, looking somewhere between surprised and a little peeved. "Excuse me? 'Your darling Amaya'?" She turned to her younger sister. "How well do you know this guy, anyway?" she snapped.

Amaya bobbed her head back and forth as if thinking before giving a shrug. "Pretty well, I guess. I dunno we played for a while together and hit it off."

I nodded vigorously which only resulted in a glare from Lori. I wasn't sure if she was just a protective older sister or just simply didn't like me right off the bat. I'd gotten off on a good foot though. Kissing a girl's hand was supposed to make them swoon, right?

I gave Lori a grin and her glare only deepened. Ooh, this woman definitely didn't like something I'd said… or something I'd done. I wracked my brain for what it could've been. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly, letting out an awkward laugh when I couldn't put my finger on something that would've made her angry.

Amaya seemed to sense the tension and instead turned to me with an exuberant gushing of words towards the release of SAO. It seemed she was just as excited as I was to get to explore the higher levels of the game.

Amaya was an extremely talented player. Not until her had I encountered anyone even _close _to my skills in games, but she was right up there on my level. Granted I was pretty sure I could still beat her, but she was talented. She also hacked, just as I did, and her fingers flew faster than light on the keyboard she was given, her eyes taking in all the data with ease. She was the first person I'd met in a game who could keep up with my technological talk and game hacking too. In all reality she was pretty amazing. I'd only wished I could've met her earlier in the beta.

Plus, she wasn't like other girls and didn't make excuses as to why she couldn't meet up with me. And honestly, talented in games or not, that was pretty much a selling factor.

Lori looked a little baffled and overwhelmed as Amaya and I continued to spew excitement and theories about the game to one another. Apparently she'd heard the game was truly unbeatable, and that at the top level you only have one HP and if you don't kill the boss within ten seconds you automatically die. Challenge accepted I said, to which she laughed and seemed determined as well.

I wasn't quite sure how long we gibbered at each other but apparently it was long enough for Lori to eventually butt in with a clearing of her throat.

I stopped, turning to her while Amaya continued to chatter away, obviously unable to hear the noise. She stopped a second later when she realized I was looking elsewhere, however, staring over at her sister before letting out a laugh and muttering, "Sorry."

Right… her hearing. Even though she couldn't hear in the real world, most likely it could be fixed in-game. While the Nerve Gear replicated a human body and a human's thoughts and actions, it wasn't real. Therefore this avatar that could look exactly like us if we so wanted, was still only virtually created. People could move much better in here, even if they were overweight or handicapped, than they could in real life. So Amaya's hearing issue should've been overlooked by the sensors, since the Nerve Gear couldn't just sense that a person was deaf in a scan.

Granted it did take cranial information to help process our thoughts in-game. However still… if she could hear in the beta it appeared that the Gear didn't delve that far into the human brain, so far as to check to see if any of the senses of the user were impaired.

I turned back to Amaya. "Listen, about your hearing, have you tried logging out and recalibrating it and then logging back in? It might just be a little fluke."

She shook her head. "I haven't tried it. I went to meet up with you right after we arrived. It said when I logged in it didn't connect with the hearing sense…" She looked off to the side before shrugging. "I guess I could try it real quick, see if you're right."

I gave her a nod. "Surely it'll work the second time around. These things don't work perfectly every single time, after all."

Amaya swiped up her menu with a smile, toggling through her list before the corners of her mouth fell. Her eyebrows pinched and she swiped away her menu before bringing it back up again. "Guys…," she said, tilting her head to the side. "The logout button is gone."

* * *

**Somnolence****: (she meant nap...I think...0.o) v; to have an abject fondness for sleeping**

**Me: YEEEEEEAAAAH! SUCH EXCITEMENT! *punches air* The logout button's gone, oh snap, some serious shiznit's about to go down *giggles* Review! Thaksies!**


	3. Chapter 3: Fantasy

**Me: Haaaai guys~! *wiggles around* It's lovely to see all you lovelies again, teehee.**

* * *

_Chapter 3: Fantasy_

**Lori's POV**

I stared off into the distance as Diesel and Amaya reconnected. She had no idea, but Amaya was getting louder and louder by the second, her excitement overflowing into her speech. She was deaf and I had taught her the correct way to speak in certain situations- actually, I'd taught her a lot more than that, but being the genius my little sister was, I didn't think I deserved credit for anything other than her eloquence and etiquette.

I looked on in silence as this Diesel character told Amaya to try logging out and rejogging the NerveGear. I didn't really know what they'd been talking about beforehand. All I really knew about this Diesel guy was that Amaya liked him. And also that apparently he was extremely talented in the gaming area. I made a face. Any guy who was a "talented gamer" was probably some overweight, old, pervy loser who still lived with his mom in her garage. I'd met some of those types of guys. They reeked of desperation.

Men in general pretty much disgusted me. In my line of work- as I liked to call it- men were in their worst situations, whether they realized it or not. All men were insensitive jerks who only cared about themselves, to the cost of anyone around them at any point in time. That was what I'd always seen, and no one, not even "good guys" had proven anything close to otherwise. It was disgusting. Women weren't much better, really very catty and petty, but we as women had had to go through a lot more than the average white or Asian or even black male ever had. Men made me uncomfortable, and so I hated them, all of them, every single one. I never saw myself getting married and, though Amaya was genius quality, I saw myself in ten or so years still taking care of her by myself. It wasn't a terrible future, really.

My little sister was deaf, which meant she had a lot to overcome. I was strong, strong enough to defend her, but just barely. I'd gone into my disgusting line of work so we would have somewhere to stay at night and Amaya could continue with her education. She'd skipped two grades over the summer, skipping from being a sophomore to being a senior in her high school. She'd met a little, tiny girl, genius quality just like herself a couple years back and they'd become fast friends. Her family was supposed to be in this game, as well. Amaya had said that, after she checked in with Diesel we would go find them. How she had any idea whether or not her friend would be playing or what her family would be doing or looking like, I had no idea.

So as Amaya gabbered on to this Diesel character, I slowly grew more and more uncomfortable. How close were they? Amaya hadn't given me a straight answer. She never did- at least, when she did, it was with a sigh and a lot of smart talk which I didn't understand, having never gotten past a seventh grade education in Japan.

"Guys?" I looked up from my daydreaming at my little sister. Her having blond hair still threw me for a bit of a loop. In real life, her hair was about the farthest thing possible from blond, a cool black that everyone I knew classified as purple and nearly neon purple bangs. I shook my head. Amaya tilted her head to the side, swiping away her menu and pulling it up again. Her eyes filled with fear; an interesting addition to a virtual reality. Nice graphics.

"The logout button's gone." Amaya looked up at me and I pursed my lips, pulling up my own menu. Amaya was a master of missing what was in plain sight, but not seeing a logout button? That was a little beyond even her abilities. I growled to myself, moving my finger around dramatically. I wasn't used to games. I'd never really played anything, so I'd surprised even myself when I'd caved and bought the game and system for myself.

"Lori-nee, just move your finger like you would in the real world," Amaya said, staring a me, her face blank as a slate. "You don't need to do all that." She pointed at the back of her head. "The NerveGear intercepts every move you'd make. Because all those moves are orchestrated originally by your brain, you won't be able to move in the real world, and your body will respond perfectly in here." She shrugged. "Just act normal." I frowned. Amaya made a chuffing noise that was her version of an amused chuckle. She walked up beside me.

"Watch how I do it," she said patiently. She slid her finger across the air slowly to emphasize her point. She swiped her right hand down, nodding to my hand. I did the same, swiping from my head to my stomach. Amaya shook her head, tugging at my wrist. "No, smaller. Not so big, Lor-nee." She swiped my hand to the right, closing the menu again. I huffed in irritation, the meaning not quite lost on Amaya.

She held my wrist gently. "Hold your hand like this, yeah. Yeah, that's right. Now, collarbone to the bottom of your ribcage. Just a small, quirky motion will do. It's better for quick weapon switches during battle, which are fairly banal in this game." I cocked an eyebrow. Amaya frowned.

"What?"

"Banal?"

"Ah..." Amaya paused, thinking up a **copacetic*** synonym, "Prosaic?" I shook my head. "Bourgeois?"

"Try again, little sis," I deadpanned.

Amaya made an exasperated face at me, "How about...commonplace?"

"That's much better," I sighed, nodding. Amaya shrugged, grabbing my wrist. She guided my hand to roughly even with my collarbone, then swiped it down quickly. The menu appeared and she hummed her vindication. Still loosely holding my wrist, Amaya began to frown, guiding my hand to the top, where a picture of gears was. She held my finger over it, and three items appeared. Option, Help, and then a door with an arrow leading out of it. There should have been the words "Logout" next to the door; however, the space was empty.

"Amaya-chan," Diesel said, frowning, his brow creasing. I made a quick motion with my hand, drawing Amaya's attention then pointed to her beta friend with the purple hair. Amaya looked up at Diesel, frowning her apology. He waved it off. "You, uh...It's not there for you girls, either?" Amaya shook her head, frown deepening.

"Nope. Me or Lori's."

"Oh, c'mon guys, it'll all be fine, right?" I said, cocking an eyebrow at my little sister. She looked up at me and cocked her head. I signed it. She shrugged, looking at Diesel. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "Like, it's just a gaming glitch, right?" I looked to the beta players expectantly. "Nothing's fullproof, Diesel you said it yourself," I implored, my sense of horror mounting. Diesel laughed, sharing another look with my little sister. He nodded.

"Yeah, of course. It's probably a glitch. A bug of some sort. Big games like these with so many people often having running problems when they're first released, in fact I can't recall a game that hasn't!" He laughed again, a little more convincing this time, but not much. "We'll be just fine."

Amaya had that look on her face. That look of having a hard problem set in front of her. That look of "how do I best approach and disassemble this?" I waved a hand in her face. _What's really happening?_ I signed. Amaya shook her head.

"It's just like Diesel said," she offered slowly, her eyes wandering the landscape. "It's probably just a glitch or bug that they'll have fixed in a while. Don't worry about it, Lor-nee."

I'd never been so worried in my life.

* * *

**Kaori's POV**

"Miss? Miss?" I looked down, seeing a young girl tugging on my coattails. I smiled, crouching down and putting my hands on my thighs.

"Hi there. Can I help you?" I asked. The girl sniffed, rubbing her nose. She looked up at me plaintively.

"My mommy ran away," she sniffed. "Can you help me find her?" she asked. The little girl- name: Araska- was frightened, her eyes big and wide. I chuckled, resting a hand on her head.

"Of course!" What was her mother's name? I knew it somehow, it was right on the tip of my tongue. I stood back up, taking the girl's hand gently. Her information flooded the bottom of my vision; I read it as I walked. Her mother and older brother were in the game, too- names: Sylvia and Jason- and they had gotten back to the square. They were currently talking with a girl and a boy- names: Basta and Seilam.

"Do you have a big brother, little one?" I asked, looking down at Araska. She nodded.

"Nico-niisan. Big brother," she sniffed. I squeezed her hand reassuringly, then again when the avatar names came into view. They were floating above the crowd, almost like the names knew I was looking for their owners. Jason and Sylvia were the avatar names if I knew right. With this system designed by Uncle Kayaba, though, I doubted I was wrong. He wouldn't do anything to confuse me.

"Hey, look," I said, stopping and crouching down. "Your mommy's right over there, Araska." Araska squealed, jetting towards her mom with dust kicking up in generous amounts behind her. Tears marked her path as they flew out of her eyes.

"MOMMY~!" Araska screamed, drawing jumps, glares and squeaks out of nearby people. I walked after her, clasping my hands behind my back as I watched. The woman, Sylvia, turned towards the scream and, in seeing Araska, knelt down with her arms open wide.

"Araska!" The small girl crashed into her mother's arms, tears streaming down her face and her nose dripping as she wailed. I smiled. A family reunion, always lovely. The woman looked so nice, a wonderful mother. Well, not like I knew, but she looked nice, anyways. "Oh, Araska, Araska, my dear sweet little baby girl," Sylvia cooed.

Sylvia looked up at me, "Who are you?" She asked as I walked closer. I offered her a smile.

"My name's Kaori," I said carefully, "I helped young Araska here find you again." She gave me a weird look, standing up and pushing Araska behind her. She moved towards me, then opened her arms and embraced me.

"Thank you, Kaori," she said, "Thank you for bringing my little girl back to me." I hugged Sylvia back, giggling.

"Absolutely," I said. "I'm always for reuniting families." Sylvia pulled away, her tears running down her face as she smiled at me. I chuckled, wiping her tears away, catching them in my supple leather glove.

"Oh, don't cry," I soothed. She laughed.

"I'm sorry for causing you this trouble," she said, bowing. "Thank you." I nodded.

"It was really no problem," I objected. "Araska is such a sweetie, after all." With more thanks, Sylvia and Araska headed off, and I was left staring at Seilam and Basta. Basta smiled at me. She held her hand out and I shook.

"Nice to meet you, Kaori. I'm Basta, and this kid's Seilam. He doesn't talk much, but he helped me sell some food so I was taking him out to eat as my thanks." I smiled at Seilam, at me. "You wanna come with? I'm payin' if you're down," Basta said.

"Well, I...I would love to, but why?"

"Aww, it's no big thing," Basta said, motioning us to follow, "Really, it's not at all a problem. I just really admire how you helped that kid. Not a whole lot of people would do that for her. IRL I'm a kindergarten teacher, so rewarding good behavior is kinda my thing." She laughed. I nodded.

"Well, thank you in advance," I said. Basta's pace was nothing short of a brisk jog, and I had to seriously extend my legs to keep up. "So, it's Seilam, right?" I asked beside me. Seilam nodded. "I like the gold chain things," I said, referring to what looked to be a gold type necklace running through gauges in his ears and encircling his waist.

"Thanks," he said.

"He speaks!" I teased. Seilam gave me an amused yet weary smile, nodding once again. The rest of the walk continued in semi-silence, with Basta remaining a foot or so in front of us and Seilam and I remaining side by side. The dinner was at a quaint little place I'd actually designed myself, and it was quite enjoyable. The Italian chicken was to die for.

"Well, that was some of the best food I've ever had," Basta said, chuckling and patting her tummy. I giggled, wiping my mouth with the napkin. "You guys good? Want dessert?"

"Oh, no I couldn't," I said. Basta waved her hand around dismissively.

"Nonsense," the older woman scoffed, "Order anything you'd like. After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

_"This is my greatest masterpiece. Immerse yourself in my world, Kaori! You will not be disappointed."_ I gulped, nodding.

"Yeah, once in a lifetime," I said absently. Basta groaned, patting her stomach.

"Well, if y'all all will excuse me, I gotta go home and relish in this wonderful food coma," Basta snickered. She reached across the table, patting Seilam on the cheek. "You keep being you, my little prince," she said. Seilam's face flushed and he smiled, a small, sweet little thing. It was contagious and made me want to smile, too. So I did.

"You keep that lovely smile, too, Seilam, and you'll do just fine," Basta laughed. Seilam's smile brightened and he closed his eyes, chuckling quietly to himself. I looked at Seilam, smiling with him. He seemed nice, if a bit quiet. But there was nothing wrong with being quiet.

"Oh...Oh God..." I looked up at Basta. The schoolteacher's face had paled considerably. Her eyes went wide, wider than I'd ever seen. "Guys...The logout button's gone."

After a brief period of assuring the woman and Seilam that it was just a glitch, I went walking. Had I lied? No. I fully believed that it was just a small glitch.

Then, it felt like someone hit me on the back of the head, blunt force.

My vision blacked.

_The dark-haired "scientist" looked at the glowing screen, chuckling as he looked down on everyone. The room was dark, the only light provided being from the glowing computer screen. Akihiko laughed loudly, pushing back from his screen. It was a belly laugh, absolutely psychotic._

_"Kay-chan...You can hear me, right?" Akihiko chuckled, shaking his head and interlacing his fingers behind his head. "Of course you can. Well, Kay-chan, you have a couple skills I made specifically for your game. I'll tell you all about them in time, but not right now. There is time. Have you looked in your inventory? No? Ah, you disappoint me, niece._

_"Well, when you look, you have anything you could ask for. You are a healer, no? You hate seeing people in pain, you hate it with a fury. That's why you helped that small girl. Araska? Yes, that sounds right. Yes, of course I was watching. Do you remember the dream I shared with you, Kay-chan? No? Allow me to refresh your memory."_

"You wanna try?" A younger-looking Akihiko Kayaba turned around in his chair, looking into the eyes of his small niece. She smiled brightly, giving him that look of pure innocence and adoration that he so craved. Akihiko had never had children; this small niece of his was as close as he would ever get, and frankly, he was okay with that. Kaori nodded happily.

"Mhm!"

"Well, put on the helmet, then. You have to say Link Start and it'll suck you in. Understand?"

Yep!" Kaori explored the world of Sword Art Online before anyone else did. She was the first beta tester. "Can you still hear me? Testing, testing," Akihiko Kayaba said into a microphone. Kaori's avatar looked around, frowned and shook her head, putting her thumb down. Akihiko sighed, yanking on a nob and tapping the mic. Kaori flinched this time.

"Can you hear me? Testing, testing," Akihiko reiterated. Kaori smiled, putting a thumbs-up. Akihiko grinned viciously. A world he could create and control. She would share it, of course. Kaori Etul Wingate, his sister's child, and the only thing he had ever loved. "Very good."

_"It was months later than that, of course. Those were merely preliminary tests." Akihiko sighed, leaning back in his chair. "But now, now? This world is a reality. Anything you want, Kaori, anything at all, you can have it. All you have to do, is ask." With that, Akihiko smiled, then turned to face the monitor again. He chuckled politely, the way he always had, getting funding for his project, his lovely, miraculous death game._

_"Have fun, little niece," Akihiko cooed. "I'll be seeing you very soon."_

I stumbled forward, gasping, my field of vision expanding rapidly to include nothing but pure concrete. I landed on the ground. I felt hot tears. Water was undefinable in this world. Try as we might, Uncle Kayaba and I had never been able to define exactly what water felt like, what it was. We got it close, and we figured close would be close enough.

I was shaking. My arms and legs were shivering like I'd just run a marathon- I knew the legitimate feeling, having had run marathons before. But all I'd done was walk around a bit. So what had that been? Where was Uncle Kayaba? What was happening to this world?

_Why did he call it his death game?!_

I was frantic. Uncle Kayaba had expressed to me how he would love to be the king of his own world. Or maybe a god. Being a god would be an amazing feeling, too, he'd always said. Then he'd pull me close, rub my shoulder, and tell me that if he was a god, I was his perfect little goddess.

I'd never expected it to be real. Never in my wildest dreams.

Death game...With another hit of head trauma, I began to believe.

Well, didn't they all look just utterly helpless? Kayaba spoke his rehearsed speech, pulling up news reports about the children that had already been killed. All the while, stats were running to the side and bottom of his vision. It was going to get annoying, having that going permanently, but he would just have to deal with it. There were consequences to being a god. His vision narrowed in on the one person he'd wanted to see, the one girl he loved in all his years. And there she was! His sweet little Kaori!

No, wait...His sister's little Kaori; not that Kaori was theirs anymore. She belonged to him now, and she belonged to Sword Art Online. He'd installed three very special skills to his niece's game, ones that she wouldn't ever be able to turn off. He'd seen children playing that had very good computer skills. He hoped she would find them, and they would help her use her powers for the evil they were meant. It would be a satisfying victory.

He told them about the Mirrors. Kaori did not look at hers. She did not move. Curious. Akihiko narrowed his vision on her. Her eyes were blank; so, as he assumed, was her mind. Well, if she wasn't there, she was with him. Yes, she was here; if he concentrated hard enough, he could feel her presence. Yes, there it was. _Why hello, sweet niece._

He was the Game Master. No. He was a god. He was a god, and his sweet little Kaori his perfect goddess. One of the skills he'd installed said that, as he and AIs were connected to Sword Art Online, so Kaori was connected to him. What had he called it again? Oh yes, Master Connection. In moments of intense emotions, he could see into her life, and she could see into his. The other two skills...

Well, why ruin the surprise? She was here, after all. He chuckled as the Game Master winked out of existence and people began moving again.

Finally, finally he was a god.

Now, the process to becoming human again...

* * *

**copacetic: adj; in excellent order**

**Me: *facepalm* KAYABA AKIHIKO SIR**

**Kaori: 0.o *terrified***

**Lori: YOU MEAN IM STUCK IN THIS STUPID GAME? TYRONE I GOT SHT TO DO**

**Amaya: *silent***

**Me: Review plz XD**


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